3:30 am: woken up by zack and went to the toilet.4:30 am: dropped the room key inside the pigeon hole and left dorset house. temp was near freezing.4:45 am: stopped to refuel the car at memorial ave.5:00 am: left zack, ija, alif and yomi at the christchurch international airport’s departure hall.5:10 am: arrived at ace rental car branch, abros pl., off wairakei rd. about 2.5 km from the airport. the place was empty. parked companion #3, took a final look at its mileage, 1,755 km. quietly said thanks to the car and dropped the key. called the local taxi.5:20 am: the taxi arrived and brought me and aina to the airport.5:30 am: met the others and checked in our bags at air new zealand counter. was given priority as we got kids with us.5:45 am: already in the boarding room. yomi was sleeping on zack’s lap but alif got excited looking at all the planes on the runway.6:40 am: boarding flight nz504.6:55 am: the plane took off.7:20 am: the sun was rising and could see the snow covered southern alps.7:35 am: crossed the cook straits and reached the north island.7:45 am: could see the snow covered summit of mt. taranaki/egmont (2,518m) above the clouds.7:55 am: the pilot announced that auckland was raining and needed to postpone landing.8:10 am: the fog and clouds were clearing and ready for landing.8:15 am: touched down.8:45 am: at the arrival hall.9:00 am: still waiting for diman, decided to walk to the international terminal just in case he was there. called kak maz and she said that diman was at the domestic terminal and he would come to fetch us.9:30 am: safely back in the comfort and warmth of diman’s honda stream.

i’d never have thought that we would be visiting auckland city, even in my initial itineraries. however, once we got inside the car, diman offered to take us to mt. eden to have good panoramic views of the city. by that time, my mind just wandered off out of tiredness and diman also let the gps led the way. 20 minutes later, we entered mt. eden area and the road begins an uphill climb through a one way lane. the parking area was full of cars and tour buses and we walked on the rim of the grassy crater. once we reached the other side of the crater, auckland city came into full view and we just stood there marvelling at the largest city in new zealand, albeit a bit foggy. we could also see one tree hill from a distant, another elevated lookout in the city area. alif was so excited in seeing his uncle that he only held diman’s hand while walking. zack, ija and aina including yomi showcased different poses while having their pictures taken. it was quite hot and almost of us just wore our t-shirts. after some 40 minutes, we returned to the car and diman drove us southbound through sh1 back towards hamilton. we were there 8 days earlier but this time we could see the meadows, farmlands, lots of cattles and sheeps that we could not see then. about 2 hours later, we reached no. 3 carrington ave., hamilton. after carrying our bags inside the house and having a full lunch, i retreated into one of the rooms and dozed off.▼▼▼▼▼▼ mt. eden cam-whoring session▼▼▼ meditating session▼ one tree hill▼ auckland western suburbs, te atatu peninsula▼▼ auckland city▼ diman and alif▼ explaining the formation of the crater▼ the sacred mt. eden crater▼ mt. eden▼ the perspective of the size of the crater and the tour bus▼▼ state highway 1 southbound towards hamilton

that afternoon while i was still sleeping, they went for a short walk at hillcrest park, about 500m from the house and let the kids played at the playground, they even visited the crowded hillcrest library. when i woke up several hours later, it was already dark and again, i had a full dinner prepared by kak maz. that night after dinner, i just spent time uploading pics to zack’s fb, socialising with the hosts, eating unlimited supplies of tiptop ice cream, smoking a lot with diman and watching local tv programmes. that night it was (8°c) not as cold as when we first slept in the room. i guessed the heated comforter helped considerably.next»soul searching road trip oznz – day 13 (18/06/2010)

Great job on the blog, it looks like you had a wonderful time in NZ. I have been there twice and it is my favorive travel destination. But it is a long way from Florida. I loved the photos. They brought back a lot of good memories. Sad to think that all those beautiful buildings in Christchurch were heavily damaged by the earthquakes.